December 12: Inna Volkov gives birth to Ivan Troy Cole. Knowing the child is not biologically his, Preston nevertheless accepts him as his son.

A very large rebellion occurs on the colony world Far Isle, with the UNSC unable to control it. A Code: Bandersnatch is thus declared, nuclear weapons being used to put down the rebellion.[3]

The Covenant stumbles upon Doisac, the Jiralhanae homeworld. The Jiralhanae were just beginning to recover after warring themselves back into a pre-industrial state, and were quickly forced into submission by the Covenant's superior forces, making them the final species absorbed into the alliance.[4]